Lesson Plans

Teaching and learning plan and activities Lesson 1 Revising time lines, introducing TimeRime

Timing Introduction Pedagogy Technology (suggested timing sequence)

15 minutes As a whole class, revise the Assess student prior knowledge IWB – Using an concept of a timeline. about concepts of time. IWB allows the teacher to model Discuss concepts of chronological A whole class activity discussing the importance time and how dates can be placed timelines allows the teacher to of sequencing. in sequence. revise concepts of chronology and sequencing with the students. The IWB is an Create a whole class timeline by effective way placing key dates in sequence In this activity the teacher models to demonstrate that respond to the following the concept of timelines and how the sequencing questions: they allow us to sequence events. of events on • When were you born? This modelling activity gives a timeline, as • Do we know when your the students a framework for it allows you parents were born? understanding and organising to physically evidence and facts in sequence. rearrange and • How old are your parents? place events into • How old are your grandparents? Starting from the familiar – such the correct order. as the students’ birthdays – allows This activity should be done young learners to build new on the largest scale possible in knowledge in relation to what order to engage the students they already know. – preferably using an IWB or projector. Sorting and evaluating information is a basic component of inquiry learning.

Page 1 © 2011 Commonwealth of Australia. Unless otherwise noted, this material is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. You may use this material free of charge for educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with the material. Timing Introduction Pedagogy Technology (suggested timing sequence)

40 minutes Individual task: Students revise the concept of Software: how timelines can be used to TimeRime Students construct a simple represent key events within a timeline of their own life. Students’ digital person’s life by having students images of key Some key questions for the construct simple timelines of their events in their students to consider: own lives. lives What?/When? Through the construction of a Scanner Are some of your key events simple timeline the students are memories? allowed to experiment with the software they will use for their What do you remember most research project. It is always a about your different school years? good idea to give students the chance to explore the features of When were you born? new technology. This allows them Where? to familiarise themselves with the Where were you born? program, making subsequent lessons more effective. Have you always lived in the same house? Teacher should act as a mentor, reframing questions to model historical skills.

Historical skills:

• concepts about time/ chronology • continuity and change over time.

5 minutes Conclusion: This discussion allows learners IWB – Using an Initiate a whole-class discussion. to explicitly define learning IWB or projector, difficulties. display one Use these questions to guide example of a This activity reinforces learning by student responses: student’s work allowing the students to talk about for the whole • What problems did you what worked and what didn’t, and class to discuss. encounter with the software? importantly why. • How did you solve them? • How might you solve them in the future?

Page 2 © 2011 Commonwealth of Australia. Unless otherwise noted, this material is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. You may use this material free of charge for educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with the material. Teaching and learning plan and activities Lesson 2: Introducing the topic - preparing the students to be ‘mini’ historians Timing Introduction Pedagogy Technology (suggested timing sequence)

15 minutes Introduce the topic the students Effective brainstorming should Use an IWB in the will be researching: be a collaborative process that brainstorming generates a large number of ideas, process, ‘The contribution of Aboriginal encouraging creative thinking physically moving and Torres Strait Islander people strategies. and collating to Australian society.’ ideas generated The choice of brainstorming Initiate a class brainstorm of by the class activity should be based on the some significant Indigenous discussion. class needs and dynamics. Australians and their contribution When to Australian society. Group work facilitates brainstorming collaborative learning and Select from a variety of techniques with young problem solving. This also to initiate this discussion with learners the use encourages communication and your class: of an IWB is an interpersonal social skills. • Think, Pair, Share effective tool to visualise the • Graffiti sheets different stages • 1-2-4 strategy of the thinking • Sunshine wheel. process.

10 minutes Prepare the class for their own Teacher models how historians IWB research project by encouraging investigate the past by: List of useful students to visualise themselves as • asking questions websites that being ‘mini’ historians. • researching have been Ask students to think about: • analysing sources previewed by the • What would historians need • interpreting evidence teacher to know? • making judgements Using IWB, review • How do historians go about • communicating their key websites finding information? conclusions. that have been previewed by the teacher, discussing issues of usefulness and reliability.

Page 3 © 2011 Commonwealth of Australia. Unless otherwise noted, this material is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. You may use this material free of charge for educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with the material. Timing Introduction Pedagogy Technology (suggested timing sequence)

25 minutes In pairs students are given the task The teacher should scaffold the Internet access to investigate the life of a notable students’ research by modelling Begin List of useful Indigenous Australian, which will correct historical terminology. research websites that be used to construct an interactive The teacher should rephrase have been timeline using the TimeRime and clarify students’ questions previewed by program. by explicitly referencing how the teacher Students choose from a prepared historians work. TimeRime list of key Indigenous Australians Focus on: software who have contributed to the economy, education, science, • primary/secondary sources. the arts and sport. Good historians think about: When conducting their research, • What are the best sources ask students to look for significant of information? moments of change in the life of • What are the best places their eminent Indigenous person. to look for information? Guide your students to ask specific • What information questions about key events: is worthwhile? • What are the important • Why some resources are perhaps milestones for this person? more useful and more reliable than others? • What impact has this individual had in major turning points of • Under what criteria Australian history? might we judge the resources? The key learning concepts How is this change seen from the for students are: perspective of both Indigenous • Is the information that I’m using and non-Indigenous Australians? trustworthy? Is it reliable? Students are: • Can I back-up this information • searching for sources of information with other sources that say the on eminent Indigenous same thing? Can I corroborate Australians in online repositories the sources? • analysing these different sources to determine which are the most useful. Interpreting which information can be used to show key historical events.

Page 4 © 2011 Commonwealth of Australia. Unless otherwise noted, this material is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. You may use this material free of charge for educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with the material. Timing Introduction Pedagogy Technology (suggested timing sequence)

10 minutes Conclusion: Reflection time reinforces learning IWB – Using an Conduct a whole-class reflection by asking students to demonstrate IWB or projector, on the process of creating a digital what they know. display one timeline. pairs’ example of student progress Ask focusing questions such as: so far for the • What difficulties did they whole class to encounter? discuss. • Why is a timeline important in the study of history? • How do students work out which information is important? • What are the key challenges in finding information digitally and how can students determine the reliability of information they find online?

Online resources Internet websites: Information can be accessed over many websites including the following: • http://trove.nla.gov.au/ • http://www.nma.gov.au/index.html • http://www.nla.gov.au/oz/histsite.html • http://www.naa.gov.au/ • http://www.pictureaustralia.org/ • http://aso.gov.au/

Other resources Hardware: • Interactive whiteboard • Video projector • Scanner

Software: • TimeRime

Page 5 © 2011 Commonwealth of Australia. Unless otherwise noted, this material is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. You may use this material free of charge for educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with the material. Teacher preparation Here are just some of the significant Indigenous Australians students could research: • Albert Namatjira • Faith Bandler • Mick Dodson • Christine Anu • Martin Nakata • Seaman Dan • Pat Dodson • Cathy Freeman • Evonne Goolagong Cawley • Jimmy Little • Lowitja O’Donoghue • Dr Pat O’Shane • Noel Pearson • Galarrwuy Yunupingu • Charles Perkins

Being culturally sensitive The culturally sensitive nature of Indigenous history can make teachers feel ill prepared to teach this topic.

Consider some of the following teaching strategies to help you:

1. Use clear learning outcomes Be clear about the learning outcomes that you are addressing when you teach. Look carefully at how these outcomes develop your students’ broader historical understandings of empathy, multiple perspectives, change and continuity.

2. Develop a good depth of knowledge Develop a good depth of knowledge of the history being taught. As history is a dynamic subject, where new sources are regularly discovered and new interpretations developed, take steps to regularly update your knowledge.

3. Teach the study of history as being open to debate Challenge your students to think about history as being open to debate and argument rather than being a fixed body of knowledge. Help them to see that history is full of complexities and that there is more than one way of viewing the past.

Page 6 © 2011 Commonwealth of Australia. Unless otherwise noted, this material is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. You may use this material free of charge for educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with the material. Assessment ideas Some things to think about: • Link assessment to learning outcomes outlined in the Australian Curriculum guidelines. • Use the Australian Curriculum descriptors to create a rubric defining your learning outcomes. • Involve students in the creation of the assessment rubric. • Clear expectations focus the most important learning goals. • Include room for student reflection.

Differentiated instruction Depending on the needs, abilities and backgrounds of students, find sources of historical information appropriate to the level of the learner.

For students with low literacy levels this would involve finding digital sources with high visual and audio content.

Prepared web links Scaffold basic internet research skills by using prepared web links.

Using a search engine such as Google to search for information can be too difficult a task for some learners, as some students need more direct guidance to filter what is useful information from the enormous array of material available online.

Cut and paste useful web links onto a word document, allowing students to directly use the hyperlinks that access web pages.

Page 7 © 2011 Commonwealth of Australia. Unless otherwise noted, this material is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. You may use this material free of charge for educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with the material.